Ahead of a summit meeting Monday in Deauville, France, between the leaders of Germany, Russia and France, Moscow is asking for regular participation in the European Union committee that is responsible for setting the bloc’s foreign policy.
“We would like Russia and the E.U. to be able to take joint decisions,” Vladimir Chizhov, Moscow’s ambassador to the European Union, said in a telephone interview with the International Herald Tribune over the weekend from Brussels. “I don’t expect to be sitting at every session of the political and security committee, but there should be some mechanism that would enable us to take joint steps.”
Such arrangements would mark a major change in E.U.-Russia relations, which have been held back because of divisions inside the 27-member bloc over how to deal with Russia. They might also go some way to meet Russia’s calls for a new security architecture, a move aimed at gaining a greater say in strategic issues in Europe.
For more: Russia Looks to Formalize Relation With E.U. - NYTimes.com
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